Globalize DC is a DC-based nonprofit organization which works to expand access to global education, language learning, and study abroad opportunities for Washington, DC K-12 public school students, particularly those from the city’s most underserved schools and communities. We accomplish this in large part by serving as a bridge, facilitating connections between the city’s extensive global assets and our local students, educators, and schools. We think strategically about how best to use these resources, to move beyond isolated, one-off opportunities to encourage more equitably available and sustainable approaches to global education.

Our History with Japan

We first got seriously involved with Japan in 2013, when we were invited to become an implementing partner for American Councils’ TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program, a two-way cultural exchange between DC and Japanese high school students, funded by the US-Japan Council’s TOMODACHI Initiative. We co-coordinated this exchange with DC students for six years (from 2013 to 2018), until funding ended.

Read about this program here and on our special program website at usjapanfuture.org (currently archived through the Internet Archive).

Our participation in this student exchange gave us new insight into the US-Japan relationship, ideas for new educational programming, and a large network of wonderful partners and resources. It also presented us with a challenge. Most of our participating DC students finished the program eager to continue their study of Japan and Japanese; yet no Japanese language or Japan-related programs existed for them in the public school sector.

So Globalize DC got to work designing programs that could begin to meet the tremendous student interest in Japan, tapping into the wealth of local Japan-focused resources.

In the 2016-17 school year we introduced, thanks to a generous grant from the US Japan Foundation:

• JAPANESE PLUS: A free afterschool Japanese language, culture, and career exposure program, offered at no cost to DCPS and DC charter high school students. As of 2024, we have offered the program to three(3) cohorts, each lasting two years, covering Japanese Levels I-II.
• JAPAN IN DC: A six-week summer Japan studies (not language-focused) program, offered as part of the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program. This intensive program was offered in summer 2017 and repeated in summer 2024. It led to the publication of a 128-page book, Japan in DC, based on student writing and other creative work.

Since then, Globalize DC has expanded its work on Japan:

• JAPANESE AT COLUMBIA HEIGHTS EDUCATION CAMPUS: We worked with the school principal to help launch a new school-day Japanese program at Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC), the first formal in-school Japanese language program in a DC public school in recent memory and still the only DC public school to offer Japanese.
• JAPANESE TAMAGO: Online school-year and summer Japanese language and culture programs offered during the pandemic (2020-21) to DC public high school and middle students respectively.
• ANTI-ASIAN HATE PROJECT: A student project that grew out of our Japanese Tamago programs in response to the upsurge in anti-Asian/AAPI hate and violence during the pandemic. This led directly to student advocacy for inclusion of more content on Asia, Asians, and AAPI in the revised DC social studies standards.
• KAKEHASHI Exchange: Selected by the Japanese government for a free eight-day KAKEHASHI cultural exchange program in Tokyo and Gifu, Japan for twenty-two (22) of our students (2018).

Now in the 2024-25 school year, we are working to continue and expand these programs. Review our Programs menu and News on this website for the latest information, and most importantly, check out our Student Blog to hear from our students.

Special Honors:

We are extremely honored that our work offering Japanese and other Japan-related educational programming to DC public school students has been recognized within our larger community. We are very grateful.

• 2020 Recipient of the John & Hiroko Malott Leadership Award from the Japan America Society of Washington DC.
• Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation for FY2024.